4of4Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, June 3, 2014. The U.S. Senateâs top party leaders clashed at an unusual Judiciary Committee hearing over a proposed constitutional amendment that would give Congress more authority to regulate federal campaign spending. Photographer: Pete Marovich/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Mitch McConnellPhoto: Pete Marovich

The Senate on Wednesday advanced an attempt by Democrats to limit tax breaks for companies moving jobs out of the United States.

On a 93-7 vote, the Senate overcame a procedural hurdle on a bill that would deny companies federal tax deductions for the physical cost of moving operations abroad and provide them with a tax credit for moving operations into the U.S.

All seven no votes came from Republicans, including Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Republicans and businesses oppose the bill, and Republicans will still have opportunities to block it. Advancing the bill for a debate allows Republicans to discuss the issue, offer amendments and then complain if Democrats don't allow votes on their alternative proposals.

The bill doesn't address the more politically and economically significant issue of corporate inversions, in which U.S. companies use mergers to move their addresses outside the country and reduce their tax bills. In those cases, operations and executives almost always stay in the U.S.

Democratic legislation to curb inversions hasn't advanced out of committee or to the Senate floor.

Some Republicans derided Wednesday's legislation as a political stunt designed to give Democrats a campaign issue in an election year.

"It's a bill that's designed for campaign rhetoric and failure, not to create jobs here in the U.S.," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "But that's not stopping our friends on the other side from bringing it up again - just as they did right before the last big election too."